Centrifugal extractor



June 17, 1930- .1. M. KREIDER 1,764,214

` CENTRIFUGL EXTRACTOR Filed Oct. 3, 1928 Inl/e nbr.' '7572/10 Mlf'reder,

Patented June 17, 1930 UNITED STATES JOHN M. KREIDER, OF NEFFSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA CENTRIFUGAL EXTRACTOR Application led October 3; 1928. Serial No. 310,155.

This invention relates to centrifugal dryers or extractors intended moreparticularly for use in connection with small metal products. 1

5 It has for its primary object to provide a very simple, cheap, compact and sturdy machine of this character that can be conveniently mounted and operated at practically any point in a small space,'the commercial embodiment as set up only occupying a floor space of 14; by 33 inches; Further objects are to provide a very simple base in which all shaft bearing boxes, or supporting members thereof, are integral with each other, 15 thus providing a very simple inexpensive construction positively insuring the proper alignment of all bearings and the proper relation between the shafts and gearsV at all times; to provide a dryer having a base adapted to be set up on a shop lloor and having an extremely low center of gravity to avoid to a large extent torsional strains and wobbling due to give in the vertical shaft under power conditions, whereby less power to drive it is required, and less wear and tear are involved in its operation, it being borne in mind in this connection that the vertical shaftwill rotate at the rate of about 550 rotations per minute during the normal opera-tion of the 3o dryer; to provide a very low construction of dryer whereby the Voperative may by hand place the basket containing the metal articles in the dryer and remove it, as so loaded, therefrom with a minimum of lifting movement and only through his most efficient range of lifting movement; to provide a simple inexpensive rotary basket support having a suitable receiving frame; to provide an efficient and simple brake means so related to the main shaft bearings and the rotary support and receiving frame as to avoid undue strain on the main shaft during the application of the brake while making it practicable for the operator to apply the brake without moving '15 away from the rotary support; to provide in such a machine a drive control, a brake and av rotary table with its supporting frame, said elements being so related that the operator, standing in a single position or at a deinite point adjacent the rotary table, may place the basket loaded with work pieces on the table in its frame,operate the drive control to cause the support and basket 'to' rotate, operate the drive control to inoperative position, apply the brake, and finally remove the basket loaded with the dried work pieces, without moving from said position or point, all of said operations being performed in the space `of twok to three minutes or even less; to provide a simple guard or Vcase combining with the base to constitute a drip receptacleysaid guard or case being received in the rim of the base with a snug frictional fitv and held therein by gravity, or gravity and friction, or more positively by frictional screws if desired; to provide a simple cylindrical form of basket and of rotary'receiving frame combining with each other to provide a positive, as distinguished from frictional, drive connection between the two; and to provide a top for the basket, said top being held locked to said basket by centrifugal force during the rotation of the basket.

lIn this *application* I show and describe only the present commercial embodiment of my invention asdesigned for use primarily for drying small articles, for instance after rinsing in Vconnection with plating work, and for drying and stripping excess lacquer from small articles as part of lacquering operations,simply by way of illustration of the practice of my invention as by law required, said embodiment being the present preferred form of my invention. However, I recognize that my invention is capable of other and different embodiments and that, considered in` its broader aspects, vthe various details thereof may be modified invarious ways, all without departing Y from said invention; therefore, the drawing and description herein are to be considered as merely illustrative and not as exclusive.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l represents a view, partly in side elevation and partlyvin longitudinal central section, of adryer embodying my invention;

Figure'2, a sectional view, broken away, on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3, asectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure l, looking in the direction 0f the arrows; and

Figure 4, an enlarged detail sectional view of the rotary support and receiving frame, with the basket therein and the cover applied to the latter, showing in detail the lock features of the cover and their combination with the basket, the vertical shaft for the rotary support or table being broken away.-

Referring now in detail to the drawings, 1 indicates the drive shaft mounted in bearings 2 and 2a, the lower members of which are preferably integral with the base 3, a beveled gear pinion 7 being mountedon the inner end portion of said shaft 1 in any suitable manner to turn therewith and to mesh with bevel ring gear 4 preferably formed integral with the rotary'support or table 5, which has a relatively short depending preferably integral stub shaft 6 fitting in vertical cylindrical bearing S preferably integral with the base 3, a ball or roller thrust bearing 9 being interposed between the upper end of said bearing 8 and the opposed face of the table or support 5, said bearing 9 supporting the table 5 and the load thereon. However, the particular type, form, or construction of the bearing or anti-friction means 9, and its location are unimportant, it being simply important that there shall be some suitable anti-friction means interposed between the parts to reduce friction. Also, it is not a matter of particular moment whether the ring gear 4 and the shaft 6 be structurally integral with the support or table 5, it being only important that there be no relative rotary movement between them and said table or support 5.

Said shaft 1 may be driven in any convenient manner, a belt driving means comprising a belt A being illustrated and to this end an idle pulley 10 is loosely mounted on said shaft 1, and a drive pulley 11 is mount ed on said shaft to turn therewith closely adjacent to idle pulley 10, as usual, a suitable belt shifting means being provided, said shifting means in the embodiment illustrated comprising a rod or bar 12vslidable through bracket arms 13 secured to the base 3, a belt shifter fork 14 adjustably mounted on said rod 12 between said bracket arms 13 and held in adjusted position by any suitable means such as, for instance, a friction screw 15, and a shifting lever 16 pivotally connected to a lug 17 preferably integral with the base 3 and having a sliding pivotal connection with a llink 16a connected to said rod 12 in such manner as to prevent relative movement between the two axially of said rod 12. However, while I have denitely illustrated and described one construction of belt shifting means, I am not concerned with the details or construction thereof, nor its specific operation, any one of the large number of belt shifting means now well known may be employed, but it is an important consideration that the means for controlling the drive, in the present embodiment of lever 16, shall be so located that it shall be within the convenient reach of the operator standing at a single point convenn ient to the brake and the rotary table or support 5 so that he may control the application and removal of power to the shaft, apply the brake to stop the rotation of the shaft and therefore the rotation of the support or table 5, and insert and remove the loaded work basket without shifting from said point.

A brake-drum 18 is mounted on the shaft 1 to turn therewith between the drive pulley 11 and the bearing 2a, consequently between the two bearings 2 and 2a and preferably, as illustrated, immediately adjacent the latter, and a brake-strap 23 of heavy sheet metal, or other suitable material, either lined or unlined as preferred, is secured at one end to the lugs 19 preferably integral with base 3, extends over the drum 18 and has its other end secured to foot brake lever 20 pivotally mounted in lugs 21 preferably integral with base 3, a spring 22 being interposed between the lever 2O and the base 3 to normally hold the lever 20 raised to prevent frictional contact between the strap 23 and the brake-drum 18.

The base 3 has its sides of its end portion adjacent to the verticalshaft 6 widened out and formed with a lip 24 extending about or across said end portion preferably concentric with said shaft 6 and slightly greater in diameter than said table 5, and continues except where it merges with the lower member of the bearing 2a, this construction resulting inthe formation of a circular bottom with alip 24, all Vintegral with the base 3 to snugly receive the bottom portion of a case or guard25 and together with the latter constitute a receptacle to receive and conserve the lacquer thrown off in-'the drying and stripping operation on lacquer work and permitting the drawing off or recovery and reuse of such lacquer so thrown off. WYhile it is preferred that such bottom portion of the composite receptacle above mentioned shall be an integral part of the base 3, this is'not a matter of vital importance and it may be made and arranged otherwise in any suitable manner.

The cylindrical guard orcase 25, preferably having -a reinforced or thickened lower edge portion 26, makes a snug frictional lit in said lip 24, the opposed faces of the said guard 25, lip 24 and base 3 being smooth to make a good tight fit functioning to prevent the loss of such lacquer or other liquid recovery of which is desired.

Of course the guard 25 is cut out in its bottom portion at the proper point to accommodate the bearing 2a,but fits tightly against lli) the same, as indicated in Figures l and 2, preventing appreciable loss of lacquer or other liquid at this point. If desired, the guard or casing 25 may be additionally secured in position by friction screws 27 extending through lugs 28 integral with, or secured to, the rim 24T. TNhere the dryer is used to eX- tract or strip olf rinsing water the conservation thereof ordinarily is not-contemplated, but in such case the guard or casing 25 will serve to prevent the spraying o'f the immediate neighborhood with such rinsing water as thrown off during the drying operation. In some operations the confinement of the work, as subjected to centrifugal action, may not be desired and for this reason the guard 25 is made separablefrom its bottom closureso as to provide a machine universally applicable to all kinds of centrifugal drying, stripping and treating work and quickly adapted to any particular job.

The table 5 is provided witha suitable basket or work receiving frame comprising vertical uprio'hts 29, four being shown in the embodiment illustrated, making a tight driven frictional lit in, or welded or otherwise suitably secured to or in the table 5, and a top connecting ring 30 welded or otherwise suitably secured to the upper portions of said rods 29 and being of an internal diameter slightly exceeding the distance between the opposed faces of each pair of diametrically opposite rods 29 in order that the basket B with the ends of the stays 32 looped around or bent around the rings 3l may be easily inserted and removed. Y

The basket B is preferably of openmesh wire construction, cylindrical in shape,and has a frame comprising upper and lower heavy wire or rod ring members 3l and heavy vertical wire or rod stays 32.

The ring members 3l are of such diameter that when the wire mesh material of the basket is wrapped around the same, as illustrated in Fig. 2, they will make a snug frictional fit between the vertical rods 29, as illustrated in said ligure, so that when the table or support 5 is still the basket AB may be easily placed in or removed from the frame, but, during rotation of said table 5, will be in frictional engagement with the surface of the table 5 and with the rods 29 and turn therewith.

Further, as insuring positive engagement between said basket and rods 29, thus preventing relative movement between them at high speeds, the ends of the stay members 32 wrapped or bent or looped around the upper and lower rings 31 project radially slightly beyond the inner portions of the postsv 29 and are adapted to contact therewith.

The basket B is provided with a removable top C to prevent the discharge of articles from said basket under the influence of centrifugal force. v i

Said top C is formed with a lip adapted to rest on the top edge of the basket B, a prong for stem 33 projecting through the mesh of prong 33, said bolt 34 with its prong 36 being moved into, and held in, its eXtreme radially outer locking position solely by centrifugal force when the basket B is rotated. The prong 36 is preferably integral with the bolt 34, and may be of less diameter than the latter, as illustrated, though this is a matter of no real consequence.

For convenience, an operating handle 37 will be connected to the bolt 34 and will extend through a slot 38 in the top, said slot permitting the endwise movement of the bolt to either operative, or inoperative, position.v i

The construction described results in a very compact apparatus, dryer or centrifugal extractor easily operated by a single operative remaining or stationed at a definite single or fixed point, and with a minimum of effort and lost motion, and may be well termed a one man dryer.

Of course any suitable known bearings and anysuitable known lubrication fittings -or system may be employed in connection with all moving parts.

The basket B will preferably have a bail such as D of heavy wire stock for conven-n ience in handling. Y

Thebase 3 will be secured in position in any suitablemanner, for instance by anchor bolts passing through bolt holes E at suitable points. f

In order to obtain the desired low center of gravity and the very low construction of the dryer or extractor as a complete unit to facilitate the insertion and removal of theV loaded baskets B which are quite heavy when loaded with metal parts, I have employed an integral base 3 with' all bearings integral,so avoiding need for height to permit access in aligning 'and `adjusting the. bearings, have formedthe ring gear of the rotary support on the lower portion thereof, providing an overhead drive giving great accessibility While avoiding the necessity for appreciable length in the shaft 6, and at the same time provide a very simple'bevel gear making a low overally height possible while making the gears of the same diameter so that the shafts will rotateY at, or substantially at, the same speed, avoiding any tendency to overrun, and avoid possible undue torsional stresses by confining the diameter of my rotary support to approximately twice the diameter, or less, of the ring gear, to less than three timesl the diameter of its supporting anti-friction ring bearing and to less than twice the length of its vertical shaft, this construction having in view also the prevention of wobbling or whipping; and to obtain compactness, avoid torsional strain in the main drive shaft and excessive strain thereon due to the application ofthe brake, so proportion the parts that the distance between the top of the rotary support and the bottom of the base is less than one third, and more than one fourth the length of said base and not less than twothirds of the distance between the two horizontal bearings for the drive shaft.

Vhat I claim is:

1. A centrifugal extractor comprising a base, a horizontal drive shaft, bearing members integral with said base and serving to support said shaft, a brake-drum applied to said shaft to turn therewith between said bearing members, a brake-strap connected Vto said base, and a brake-lever pivotally mounted on said base and operable to move said strap into binding engagement with said drum, in combination with a rotary support, a stub-shaft depending centrally from and turning with the under face of said support, a ring gear on and turning with the under face of said rotary supportand concentrically disposed with relation to said stub shaft, a pinion gear mounted on the drive shaft to turn therewith and meshing with said ring gear to rotate the same, and a vertical bearing member integral with said'base and receiving said stub-shaft, whereby said base serves to receive all driving and braking strains as a single integral element and maintains all bearings, gears and braking elements in proper alignment andrelation under all operative and idle conditions.

2. A centrifugal extractor comprising a flat base, an outer horizontal bearing member, aninner horizontal bearing member, and a vertical bearing member adjacent the inner end of said inner bearing member, all of said bearing members `being integral with said base and inalignment with each other, in combination with a horizontal drive shaft mounted in said outer and inner horizontal bearing members, a rotary support, a vertical shaft depending from said rotary support concentrically therewith and mounted in said vert-ical bearing member, a receiving frame secured to said rotary support and extending above the same concentric therewith, gears provided on and turning with said drive horizontal yshaft and said lower face of said rotary support respectively, and meshing with each other, means for actuating said drive shaft, a brake-drum turning with said drive shaft and mounted thereon closely adjacent the outer end of said inner horizontal bearing member, a. braking element adapted to cooperate with said brakedrum to stop rotation of the same, means for controlling the actuating of said drive shaft, and means for controlling the actuation of said braking element, said two controlling means and said rotary support with its receiving frame being so located in relation to each other that a single operator remaining at a fixed post of duty may operate said control means andload and unload said support and receiving frame. p

3. A centrifugal extractor comprising a rotary support, and a receiving frame secured' to said support to turn therewith and extending above the same and comprising vertical members, in combination with a work holding cylindrical basket adapted to be inserted in said frame and to rest on said support and to be removed therefrom while said support is at rest, said basket having elements extending kradially outward beyond the rest of said basket and in the path of travel of said vertical members of the frame during the rotation of said supporting member.

4. In a centrifugal extractor, a rotary support and a receiving frame connected thereto to turn therewith and extending above the same and comprising spaced vertical members spaced equi-distantly about an imaginary circle concentric with said rotary support, and a top connecting ring, the inner face of which kis of greater diameter than the circle described bythe radially inner faces of said vertical members during the rotation of said rotary support, in combinationk with a cylindrical work-holding basket adapted to make a snug {it-between said vertical members and to rest on said rotary support and having elements extending radially outward between the circleV defined by the path of travel of said inner faces of said vertical members yand lying radially inward of the inner face of said top connecting ring of said frame.

5. For use in connection with a centrifugal extractor, an open mesh wire work receiving basket having at its upper edge portion a relatively heavy wire rod form ring, and a top cover having a lip adapted to rest on the top of said basket, in combination with a relatively fixed rigid prong extending radially from said top below said lip and adapted to project through the wire mesh of the basket radially outward under said form-ring, a bolt slidably mounted in said top and adapted to be thrown radially outward solely 'by the rapid rotation of said cover so as tovproject through said wire mesh of the basket below and beyond the inner face of said form-ring at a point substantially diametrically opposite said fixed prong, and means limiting the outward movement of said bolt.

6. For use in connection with a centrifugal extractor, an open mesh wire work receiving basket having at its upper edge portion a relatively heavy wire rod form-ring, and a top cover having a lip adapted to rest on the top of said basket, in combination with a relatively fixed rigid prono' extending radially from said top below said lip and adapted to project through the wire mesh of the basket radially outward under said form-ring, a bolt slida-bly mounted in said top and adapted to be thrown radially outward solely by the rapid rotation of said cover so as to project through said wire mesh of the basket below and beyond the inner face of said form-ring at a point substantially diametrically opposite said xed prong, and means extending upwardly through said cover limiting the extreme outward movement of said bolt and permitting the easy movement thereof to inoperative position when the basket and cove are not rotating.

7. A centrifugal extractor comprising a base, horizontal bearings integral with said base, a vertical bearing integral with said base, a drive shaft mounted in said horizontal bearings, a vertical shaft mounted in said vertical bearing, a rotary support turning with said vertical shaft, driving connections between said horizontal shaft and said rotary support, and a receiving frame extending vertically from and above said rotary support, in combination with a lip integral with said base and extending concentrically about said vertical bearing below and radially outside of said rotary support and merging with one of said horizontal bearings, the base being imperforate at all points between said lip and said vertical bearing, and a cylindrical body having its lower portion cut out to accommodate the adjacent horizontal bearing, making a snug frictional fit in said lip, the opposed faces of said body and the inner face of said lip and the upper face of the adjacent portion of said base-being in substantially liquid tight contact with each other, and said body extending from said base to a point above the top of said receiving frame, the integral base insuring the maintenance of the proper alignment of said shafts and Y the proper relation of said cylindrical body to said rotary support and receiving frame.

In testimony whereof, Ihave signed my v name to this specication at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, this 2nd day of October, 1928.

JOHN M. KREIDER. 

